Privacy settings for Recommendations & offers in Windows 11

Advertising ID

Windows generates a unique advertising ID for each user on a device, which app developers and advertising networks can then use for their own purposes, including providing more relevant advertising in apps. When the advertising ID is enabled, apps can access and use it in much the same way that websites can access and use a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Thus, app developers (and the advertising networks they work with) can associate personal data they collect about you with your advertising ID and use that personal data to provide more relevant advertising and other personalized experiences across their apps.

The advertising ID setting applies to Windows apps using the Windows advertising identifier. The advertising ID setting does not apply to other methods of interest-based advertising delivered by Microsoft or third parties, such as cookies used to provide interest-based display ads on websites. Third-party products accessed through or installed on Windows may also deliver other forms of interest-based advertising subject to their own privacy policies. Microsoft delivers other forms of interest-based ads in certain Microsoft products, both directly and by partnering with third-party ad providers. Learn more about other interest-based advertising from Microsoft

To change your advertising ID setting:

1. Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers.

2. Choose your preferred setting for Advertising ID.

Website access of the language list

Some websites may have their content available in different languages. Windows can share information about your preferred language list with websites so that they can have the opportunity to respect your language preferences without you having to independently set them for each site.

To change website access to the language list:

1. Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers.

2. Choose your preferred setting for Allow websites to access my language list.

Improve Start and search results

Windows can personalize your Start menu based on the apps that you launch. This allows you to quickly have access to your list of most-used apps both in the Start menu and when you search your device.

To change app launch tracking:

1. Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers.

2. Choose your preferred setting for Improve Start and search results.

Recommendations and offers in Settings

Microsoft can offer you suggestions throughout Settings. This content comes in a variety of forms, and can help you discover new features within Settings, or suggest new content and apps you might find interesting.

To change suggested content in Settings:

1. Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers.

2. Choose your preferred setting for Recommendations and offers in Settings.

Show notifications in Settings

The Settings homepage shows account-related notifications. Microsoft account connects Windows to your Microsoft apps, backup all your data, and helps you manage your subscriptions. 

To change your Settings notifications:

1. Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers.​​​​​​​

2. Choose your preferred setting for Show notifications in Settings.

Personalized offers

If you choose to turn on Personalized offers, we will use information about your device and how you use it, including Windows diagnostic data, in combination with your account info and data collected by other Microsoft products and services to offer you personalized tips, ads, and recommendations to enhance your Windows experiences. Personalized offers include suggestions on how to customize and optimize Windows, as well as ads and recommendations for Microsoft and third-party products and services, features, apps, and hardware to enhance your Windows experiences. For example, Windows might tell you about new features to help you get the most out of your device. If you stream movies in your browser, Windows might recommend an app from the Microsoft Store that streams more efficiently. Or, if you are running out of space on your hard drive, Windows might recommend you try OneDrive or purchase hardware to add more storage. 

When Personalized offers is on, Windows may use your required diagnostic data to personalize offers. This data may include information about your device, its settings and capabilities, and whether it is performing properly.  If you have decided to share optional diagnostic data, the data used to personalize offers may also include information about how you use apps and features, plus additional information about the health of your device. We may also use this information about your device and your activity to personalize offers locally on your device, even when the data does not leave your device. We do not use the content of crash dumps, speech, typing, or inking input data for personalizing offers. 

In addition to information about your device and how you use it, including Windows diagnostic data, we may use or combine the following data from other Microsoft products and your account with Windows diagnostic data to personalize offers:  

• Web activity, if you give Microsoft Edge permission to collect your web activity for personalized search, ads, and news.

• Info about your use of other Microsoft products and services, including Microsoft Bing, Microsoft 365, Xbox, and Microsoft websites such as MSN.com.

• Subscription and purchase history

• Data from third-party websites which may be shared with Microsoft.

We may also use information about your interactions with tips, recommendations, and promotions to provide and improve the personalized offers and similar messages in other Microsoft products.

To manage how data collected by other Microsoft products is used to personalize offers, you can visit https://aka.ms/personalized-offers to opt in or out. The data we use to personalize offers may change over time, but this page will always have the latest list of data sources so you can make decisions on how your data is used by Microsoft. In some regions such as the European Economic Area, turning off Personalized offers on Windows also stops the use of data from other Microsoft products to personalize tips, ads, and recommendations in Windows. In other regions, you can manage how data collected by other Microsoft products is used to personalize offers by visiting https://aka.ms/personalized-offers.  

Contextual data from your device and some basic account data are used to show you appropriate messaging in Windows regardless of whether the Personalized offers setting or the use of data from other Microsoft products to personalize offers are turned off. For example, this data is used to make sure content is in the correct language and appropriate for your age group. 

The contextual data from your device includes: 
    

• Device ID

• Device type

• Device configuration info

• Age of the device

• Device language and locale settings

• Info on where the message will appear in Windows

The basic account data used to show you appropriate messages includes: 

• Account region info

• Privacy settings

• Age group

• Devices associated with your account

• Purchases of Microsoft products and subscriptions

If you choose to turn off Personalized offers or stop the use of data from other Microsoft products, we may use basic account data and contextual info about your device to avoid showing you generic tips, ads, and recommendations that are not relevant to you. For example, we may use basic account data like your active subscriptions to avoid showing you ads for products you have already purchased, or contextual data like your device model to avoid recommending hardware accessories that are not compatible with your device.  

Personalized offers applies to tips, offers, ads, and recommendations you see in Windows. Changing this setting will not impact the kinds of offers you may see in other Microsoft products. You can change this setting at any time by searching for "Personalized offers" in the Windows Settings app.

To change your Personalized offers setting:

1. Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers.​​​​​​​

2. Choose your preferred setting for Personalized offers.